When starting Explorer, from My Computer or My Documents in Windows XP, the System Tasks panel may appear instead of the rather more useful Folders panel.

To change the default to always open the Folders panel, go into My Computer (or My Documents) then select Tools, then Folder Options, then click on the File Types tab. Look in the section called Registered file types for the entry called “Folder” with the Extension of (NONE) – select it and click on the Advanced button.

In the Actions window on the Edit File Type dialog box, look at the two entries. Open is probably highlighted in bold. Select “explore” then click on the Set Default button and click OK then click the Close button. Next time you go to My Documents or My Computer you should get the Folders view by default.

Also, a quick tip for launching Windows Explorer in folder mode is to click Start, Select Run, and type explorer.exe /e

You could also make it a shortcut on the desktop and open it maximise by default. To do this right click an empty area on the desktop,then select New and Shortcut. In the locate enter explorer.exe /e and click Next. Give it an interesting name, then click Finish. Now right click the shortcut and select Properties then select Maximised in the Run section and click OK.